COLUMBIA – The Westwood boys’ basketball team looked to beat Ridge View for the second time in region play Tuesday night.
The Blazers had other ideas in defending their home court.
Four of Ridge View’s five starters scored in double figures, while Westwood’s missed shots and turnovers caused them to fall behind early in a 64-47 loss to the Blazers.
“We looked dead,” head coach Trent Robinson said, remembering that the team didn’t practice over the weekend. “We’re built on rhythm and I tried to test a few of my guys for the past couple of days about getting in the gym, but I don’t know.”
Robinson lamented that his team went 1-for-17 from behind the 3-point line until Jayden Crews sank two 3s and Quentin McGill hit a 3, all in the fourth quarter.
“We shot the ball terribly. It was a bad rusty night for us,” he said. “Ridge View pushed up their intensity a little bit and that allowed us not to get into our sets quick enough. We couldn’t execute nothing. I don’t care if it was practice or not, we couldn’t execute and that got us out of our rhythm.”
Westwood, which overcame two double-digit deficits to beat Ridge View 64-61 in their first game Jan. 5, had no answer Tuesday night. From the tip-off, the Blazers (18-3, 6-1) outhustled the Redhawks (18-2, 7-1) in getting to the basketball as well as making shots.
C.J. Moore and Joshua Vankallen scored 16 points apiece, R.J. Davis scored 11, and Talan Staley added 10 points.
For the Redhawks, D’Marcus Thomas led the way with 16 points and Crews put up 13 points. Thomas scored 14 points in the second half, and Crews had seven in that time frame.
Ridge View controlled the tempo of the game, jumping to a 12-3 lead by the first-quarter buzzer, and going to the locker room with a 28-16 lead at intermission. The Blazers stretched the lead to 44-27 at the end of the third quarter. Both teams scored 20 points in the final stanza.
Ridge View head coach Josh Staley said his team didn’t defend well in the first game, which was something the coaching staff and players sought to fix.
“We really got on the guys and took accountability on ourselves; I took accountability as a coach, and we needed to defend better,” Staley said. “We were being more efficient defensively, more sound defensively and tried to rebound better.”
The Blazers outrebounded the Redhawks 23-12 in the first half.
Westwood is off Friday and plays host to Spring Valley Tuesday. For the boys, Robinson said the challenge will be to get the rhythm back.
“I would like to say y’all are the team that can show up and play but clearly not,” he said. “That (Tuesday’s game) was a representation of how our practice should be the real test every day. We don’t play again until Tuesday and got to figure out how to get our work done and not to let two days just fly past us.”
In the girls’ game, Westwood (13-9, 4-4) shook off a 38-point loss to crosstown rival Blythewood Friday and rallied past Ridge View 52-49.
For both the girls and head coach Gregory Bauldrick, the team’s turnaround came at the right time and for the right reason.
“There was one thing that we’ve been consistently missing, and that is just playing tough,” Bauldrick said. “We know in our hearts that we can compete with any team on the floor. The delta for us has been just not being able to compete for 32 minutes. After that humbling experience on Friday, we came back in Saturday morning and everybody, coach, manager, bookkeeper, scorekeeper, everybody, committed to doing better.”
That recommitment showed against Ridge View, where, as the visitors in a packed and loud Blazers gymnasium, the Redhawks likely reminded the crowd of previous Westwood teams that regularly went far in the postseason.
The Blazers (10-7, 5-2) led 30-22 at the half, but Westwood toughened up in the second half and steadily worked itself back into the game.
“Most of it (the first half lead) was from our missed assignments, things that we could control that we weren’t controlling,” Bauldrick said. “We went back at the half and decided that we’re going to control those things, and if we do that, we’re going to have a shot.”
With an Amari Alexander basket late in the third quarter, Westwood trimmed Ridge View’s lead to 40-38 going into the fourth quarter. The Redhawks’ Teoni Cummings sank a 2 to tie the game at 40 one minute into the fourth, and over the next five minutes the lead changed three times.
Shaniya Heath put in a basket with 2:40 to go to give Westwood a 48-47 lead. After a Ridge View turnover, Alexander put up another basket to give the Redhawks a 50-47 lead with 1:20 left.
Ridge View trimmed that advantage with two foul shots on two trips to the free-throw line, but Cummings drew a foul with 7.1 seconds left and made both shots. Ridge View inbounded and tried a long-distance 3, but the shot careened off the backboard and dropped to the floor at the buzzer.
“They were giving us the work, but hey, we weren’t just going to go down without a fight,” Bauldrick said. “They didn’t, and I’m so proud of them.”
Lyric Rogers scored 17 points and Si’Niya Curry added 12 for Westwood.
Reagan Ferguson and Amiyah Carr scored 10 points apiece for Ridge View.
As with the boys, the Westwood girls have a bye on Friday and play host to Spring Valley Tuesday.
Boys
Westwood – 3-13-11-20 – 47
Ridge View – 12-16-16-20 – 64
Westwood
D’Marcus Thomas 16, Jayden Crews 13, McGill 6, McLeod 5, Cockfield 5, Veal 2.
Ridge View
C.J. Moore 16, Joshua Vankallen 16, R.J. Davis 11, Talan Staley 10, Horton 6, Wiley 4, Mack 1.
Girls
Westwood – 14-8-16-14 — 52
Ridge View – 15-15-10-9 – 49
Westwood
Lyric Rogers 17, Si’Niya Curry 12, Heath 9, Alexander 6, Clarke 5, Entzminger 3.
Ridge View
Reagan Ferguson 10, Amiyah Carr 10, S. Johnson 7, Foster 6, Bloomfield 6, English 3, Lewis 3, Robinson 4.
